Hyundai designers have actually come up with something pretty handsome with the new Santa FE, untill you look at the back and realise the Hyundai whackiness still exists! However, it remain a masculine looking thing, which is prefered over the more feminine looks of the latest VW group cars such, as the latesr Tiggy & Kodiaq.
The more rugged looking XRT version (not available in UK) looks a little better at the rear and some markets get a light bar across the front, joining the horizontal “H” of the headlights however, Hyundai states our market won’t have one, for pedestrian collision safety, yet the Kona has one!
Hyundai missed the boat by not installing their new 8 speed wet clutch transmission, instead sticking to the same 6AT seen in the Tucson, which was also rumoured to have been getting the wet clutch, which is much smoother and doesn’t hold onto to rev’s.
I don’t know what’s going on with some manufacturers of late putting small engines in big cars but, I wouldn’t want to see the powertrain seen in the Tucson, seen in anything bigger than the Tucson. The same scenario can be seen in Stellantis 1.2l and VW group’s 1.5l in similar size cars to the Santa FE. For this reason I wouldn’t even go look at one!